Journalist @baltimoresun writer artist runner #amwriting Chaplain PIO #partylikeajournalist

Journalist @baltimoresun writer artist runner #amwriting Chaplain PIO #partylikeajournalist
Journalist @baltimoresun writer artist runner #amwriting Md Troopers Assoc #20 & Westminster Md Fire Dept Chaplain PIO #partylikeajournalist

Wednesday, September 28, 1994

19940927 Republican Contract With America

(Photograph from Newt.org – Contract with America)

See text below…

UPDATE:

{The Contract itself emerged publicly with the staging of the mass signing of the Contract on the steps of the U.S. Capitol by 367 candidates for office on September 27, 1994. On that day, all of these candidates publicly pledged: "If we break this Contract, throw us out." The Republicans who were already Members of the House of Representatives organized themselves into 11 working groups that eventually drafted ten bills that made up the Contract.}

For more information go here, and here, and here.

Newt.org’s: Download the 10-Year Anniversary Fact-Sheet

Other information sources retrieved from Wikipedia on June 10th, 2007:

Text of the Contract, from the U.S. House website

The Contract with America: Implementing New Ideas in the U.S., from the Heritage Foundation

Beyond the Contract, criticism of the Contract from Mother Jones magazine

Contract on America's Environment, criticism of the Contract from the Sierra Club

Twelve years later, myths about the Contract persist, mixed picture from A.B. Stoddard of The Hill.

Ignoring evidence to the contrary, USA Today editorial asserted 1994 "Contract with America" was "effective ... in bringing Republicans to power", Media Matters For America cites variety of polls (including NBC/Wall Street Journal) showing low public awareness of Contract.

__________________

_________________

As Republican Members of the House of Representatives and as citizens seeking to join that body we propose not just to change its policies, but even more important, to restore the bonds of trust between the people and their elected representatives.

That is why, in this era of official evasion and posturing, we offer instead a detailed agenda for national renewal, a written commitment with no fine print.

This year's election offers the chance, after four decades of one-party control, to bring to the House a new majority that will transform the way Congress works. That historic change would be the end of government that is too big, too intrusive, and too easy with the public's money. It can be the beginning of a Congress that respects the values and shares the faith of the American family.

Like Lincoln, our first Republican president, we intend to act "with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right." To restore accountability to Congress. To end its cycle of scandal and disgrace. To make us all proud again of the way free people govern themselves.

On the first day of the 104th Congress, the new Republican majority will immediately pass the following major reforms, aimed at restoring the faith and trust of the American people in their government:

FIRST, require all laws that apply to the rest of the country also apply equally to the Congress;

SECOND, select a major, independent auditing firm to conduct a comprehensive audit of Congress for waste, fraud or abuse;

THIRD, cut the number of House committees, and cut committee staff by one-third;

FOURTH, limit the terms of all committee chairs;

FIFTH, ban the casting of proxy votes in committee;

SIXTH, require committee meetings to be open to the public;

SEVENTH, require a three-fifths majority vote to pass a tax increase;

EIGHTH, guarantee an honest accounting of our Federal Budget by implementing zero base-line budgeting.

Thereafter, within the first 100 days of the 104th Congress, we shall bring to the House Floor the following bills, each to be given full and open debate, each to be given a clear and fair vote and each to be immediately available this day for public inspection and scrutiny.

1. THE FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY ACT: A balanced budget/tax limitation amendment and a legislative line-item veto to restore fiscal responsibility to an out- of-control Congress, requiring them to live under the same budget constraints as families and businesses. (Bill Text) (Description)

2. THE TAKING BACK OUR STREETS ACT: An anti-crime package including stronger truth-in- sentencing, "good faith" exclusionary rule exemptions, effective death penalty provisions, and cuts in social spending from this summer's "crime" bill to fund prison construction and additional law enforcement to keep people secure in their neighborhoods and kids safe in their schools. (Bill Text) (Description)

3. THE PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY ACT: Discourage illegitimacy and teen pregnancy by prohibiting welfare to minor mothers and denying increased AFDC for additional children while on welfare, cut spending for welfare programs, and enact a tough two-years-and-out provision with work requirements to promote individual responsibility. (Bill Text) (Description)

4. THE FAMILY REINFORCEMENT ACT: Child support enforcement, tax incentives for adoption, strengthening rights of parents in their children's education, stronger child pornography laws, and an elderly dependent care tax credit to reinforce the central role of families in American society. (Bill Text) (Description)

5. THE AMERICAN DREAM RESTORATION ACT: A S500 per child tax credit, begin repeal of the marriage tax penalty, and creation of American Dream Savings Accounts to provide middle class tax relief. (Bill Text) (Description)

6. THE NATIONAL SECURITY RESTORATION ACT: No U.S. troops under U.N. command and restoration of the essential parts of our national security funding to strengthen our national defense and maintain our credibility around the world. (Bill Text) (Description)

7. THE SENIOR CITIZENS FAIRNESS ACT: Raise the Social Security earnings limit which currently forces seniors out of the work force, repeal the 1993 tax hikes on Social Security benefits and provide tax incentives for private long-term care insurance to let Older Americans keep more of what they have earned over the years. (Bill Text) (Description)

8. THE JOB CREATION AND WAGE ENHANCEMENT ACT: Small business incentives, capital gains cut and indexation, neutral cost recovery, risk assessment/cost-benefit analysis, strengthening the Regulatory Flexibility Act and unfunded mandate reform to create jobs and raise worker wages. (Bill Text) (Description)

9. THE COMMON SENSE LEGAL REFORM ACT: "Loser pays" laws, reasonable limits on punitive damages and reform of product liability laws to stem the endless tide of litigation. (Bill Text) (Description)

10. THE CITIZEN LEGISLATURE ACT: A first-ever vote on term limits to replace career politicians with citizen legislators. (Description)

Further, we will instruct the House Budget Committee to report to the floor and we will work to enact additional budget savings, beyond the budget cuts specifically included in the legislation described above, to ensure that the Federal budget deficit will be less than it would have been without the enactment of these bills.

Respecting the judgment of our fellow citizens as we seek their mandate for reform, we hereby pledge our names to this Contract with America.

Wednesday, February 23, 1994

19940223 Carroll County Unified Municipal Solid Waste Management and Recycling Services Program

Maryland Municipal League's Award For Excellence Competition

Carroll County Unified Municipal Solid Waste Management and Recycling Services Program

February 23, 1994

Ms. Karen Liskey

Maryland Municipal League

1212 West Street

Annapolis, MD 21401

RE: Maryland Municipal League's Award For Excellence Competition

Dear Ms. Liskey:

Please find enclosed the City of Westminster's application for the Maryland Municipal League's Eleventh Annual Award for Excellence Competition. This entry describes a program the City coordinated among six of the eight municipalities in Carroll County which reduced the public cost in contracting services for the collection of solid waste and recyclables.

We hope that the Maryland Municipal League finds the Carroll County Unified Municipal Solid Waste Management and Recycling Services Program an innovative approach towards reducing costs incurred by small municipalities in the provision of public services. We look forward to hearing from you. If there are any question, or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me at (410) 876-1313, extension 9002.

Very truly yours,

Thomas B. Beyard

Director of Planning and Public Works

TBB/KLT:klt

cc: Mayor and Common Council

APPLICATION

FOR

THE MARYLAND MUNICIPAL LEAGUE'S

ELEVENTH ANNUAL

AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE

Submitted by

The City of Westminster

for the

Carroll County Unified Municipal Solid Waste

Management and Recycling Services Program

Population Category: Over 10,000 population

Respectfully,

W. Benjamin Brown

Mayor

Contact Person: Mr. Thomas B. Beyard

Director of Planning and Public Works

(410) 876-1313, extension 9002

OVERVIEW

Seven of the eight municipalities within Carroll County provide solid waste collection and disposal service to the residents within their corporate boundaries by contracting with a private waste management company. In June of 1992, the contracts for five of the municipalities expired. Prior to renewing their individual contracts, the City of Westminster under the direction and guidance of Mayor Brown, coordinated a program between six municipalities to jointly solicit unified bids for the provision of municipal solid waste management and recycling services. The unified contract would cover a three year period.

The municipalities which solicited the unified bid included the Town of Hampstead, the Town of Manchester, the Town of New Windsor, the City of Taneytown, the Town of Union Bridge, and the City of Westminster. By soliciting bids for solid waste management on a multi-jurisdictional level this program reduced the total cost of providing solid waste and recycling collection services. In the "Request for Bids" the total number of units from each municipality were combined together. The guarantee of a larger number of units permitted private haulers to reduce their overhead costs, and, therefore, submit bids which were lower than those submitted individually to each municipality.

The waste management company which submitted the lowest sealed bid was awarded contracts with five of the municipalities. The Town of Manchester retained their existing contractor, after the contractor lowered their rate equal to the rate quoted in the unified bid. Each of the other five participating municipality executed a separate contract with the successful bidder. Therefore, payment from each municipality is forwarded directly to the waste management company, forgoing the need to create a centralized bookkeeping and finance effort between the municipalities.

SAVINGS

Evidence that the service could be provided at a lower cost under a unified bid scheme was available since five of municipalities had already received individual bids. The contract for Manchester, the sixth municipality, did not expire until the end of 1993, therefore, a separate bid had not been requested.

Specifically, the unified bid approach will save Westminster $10,345.00 in collection costs over the course of the three year contract. Combined with the four other participating municipalities whose savings are clearly known, the total savings over the three year period of the contracts will be $91,175.00.

Under this unified bid approach only Union Bridge would have experienced a higher per unit cost than it would have had under an individual bid. So the that the other four participating municipalities could enjoy the cost savings available under this unified approach, in the spirit of intergovernmental cooperation they each agreed to pay a slightly higher fee to offset the increase that Union Bridge would have experienced. Therefore, Union Bridge retained their existing lower per unit fee, while the other municipalities were still able to save their taxpayers dollars.

Moreover, the cost savings did not end with the signing of the contracts. The bid specified curbside collection of recyclable products, such as glass, paper, and plastic. The contracts went into effect in August of 1993, and during Fiscal Year 1992-93 the combined curbside recycling rate averaged 18.7 percent. With the curbside recycling program, the five participating municipalities saved over $53,500.00 in avoided landfill tipping fees during FY 1992-93, in addition to the savings already described.

APPLICABILITY TO OTHER LOCALITIES AND PUBLIC SERVICES

This type of unified bid scheme can reduce costs to small individual municipalities which must contract with private sector companies for municipal services. Enlarging the number of units serviced by joint approaches allows the provider to experience economies of scale, and offer the service at a lower cost. Small municipalities can then provide the types of services at a cost comparable to that which are typically only found in more densely populated areas.

Furthermore, a unified approach eliminated duplication of efforts, such as the cost of advertising a "Request for Bids" and the cost of supplying bid documents. With the unified approach these costs are borne by several municipalities, and, therefore, are spread equally among them. It is not necessary for each to publish a separate advertisement or prepare and supply copies of the bid document to every interested company. Staff time is also saved in the preparation process, since each municipality does not have to create and produce and individual bid.

This program does not add any additional costs to the process of requesting and awarding bids for public services which must be contracted out to private companies. When public services can be provided at a lower rate, the savings can be used to lower, or maintain, the tax rate. Ultimately, the taxpayer experiences the real savings.

####

Environmentalism Solid Waste Management, Westminster City Public Works Solid Waste Management

Thursday, May 07, 1992

18820506 Chinese Exclusion Act

Chinese Exclusion Act

May 6, 1882

(U. S. Statutes at Large, Vol. XXII, p. 58 ff.)

See also: 18801117 Treaty Regulating Immigration from China

An act to execute certain treaty stipulations relating to Chinese.

WHEREAS, in the opinion of the Government of the United States the coming of Chinese laborers to this country endangers the good order of certain localities within the territory thereof: Therefore,

Be it enacted, That from and after the expiration of ninety days next after the passage of this act, and until the expiration of ten years next after the passage of this act, the coming of Chinese laborers to the Untied States be, . . . suspended; and during such suspension it shall not be lawful for any Chinese laborer to come, or, having so come after the expiration of said ninety days, to remain within the United States.

SEC. 2. That the master of any vessel who shall knowingly bring within the United States on such vessel, and land or permit to be landed, any Chinese laborer, from any foreign port or place, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and on conviction thereof shall be punished by a fine of not more than five hundred dollars for each and every such Chinese laborer so brought, and may be also imprisoned for a term not exceeding one year.

SEC. 3. That the two foregoing sections shall not apply to Chinese laborers who were in the United States on the seventeenth day of November, eighteen hundred and eighty, or who shall have come into the same before the expiration of ninety days next after the passage of this act, . . .

SEC. 6. That in order to the faithful execution of articles one and two of the treaty in this act before mentioned, every Chinese person other than a laborer who may be entitled by said treaty and this act to come within the United States, and who shall be about to come to the United States, shall be identified as so entitled by the Chinese Government in each case, such identity to be evidenced by a certificate issued under the authority of said government, which certificate shall be in the English language or (if not in the English language) accompanied by a translation into English, stating such right to come, and which certificate shall state the name, title, or official rank, if any, the age, height, and all physical peculiarities former and present occupation or profession and place of residence in China of the person to whom the certificate is issued and that such person is entitled conformably to the treaty in this act mentioned to come within the Untied States. . . .

SEC. 12. That no Chinese person shall be permitted to enter the United States by land without producing to the proper office of customs the certificate in this act required of Chinese persons seeking to land from a vessel. Any any Chinese person found unlawfully within the United States shall be caused to be removed therefrom to the country from whence he came, by direction of the President of the United States, and at the cost of the United States, after being brought before some justice, judge, or commissioner of a court of the United States and found to be one not lawfully entitled to be or remain in the United States.

SEC. 13. That this act shall not apply to diplomatic and other officers of the Chinese Government traveling upon the business of that government, whose credentials shall be taken as equivalent to the certificate in this act mentioned, and shall exempt them and their body and household servants from the provisions of this act as to other Chinese persons.

SEC. 14. That hereafter no State court or court of the United States shall admit Chinese to citizenship; and all laws in conflict with this act are hereby repealed.

SEC. 15. That the words "Chinese laborers," whenever used in this act, shall be construed to mean both skilled and unskilled laborers and Chinese employed in mining.

Tuesday, December 31, 1991

19911231 Environmental Affairs Advisory Board End Of The Year Report

ENVIRONMENTAL AFFAIRS ADVISORY BOARD

END‑OF‑THE‑YEAR REPORT

1991

EAAB MEMBERSHIP

Mr. Franklin L. Grabowski,

Vice‑Chairman Dr. Arthur Peck

Mr. Richard Filling

Mr. Bradley Yohe

Mr. Neil Ridgely

Ms. Gwenn Bockelmann

Mr. Paul Hering, Chairman

MEETING STATISTICS

The EAAB held official meetings eleven times during the year (There was no record of a meeting in May).

BOARD MEMBERS TERMS

The EAAB was created by Resolution of the Board of County Commissioners in 1991.

LEGAL/REGULATORY ISSUES

Forest Conservation Act

Due to this state legislation, the Carroll County Forest Conservation Ordinance was created. The EAAB held subcommittee meetings to write the FCO, for Commissioner consideration.

REZONING REQUESTS

The EAAB reviewed two rezoning requests.

ENVIRONMENTAL AWARENESS AWARD PRESENTATIONS

Individual Citizen Catagory: Mr. Ellsworth Acker

Institutional Category: St. George’s Church

Business/Industry Category: Phoenix Recycling

COUNTY PROJECTS ‑ STAFF REPORTS PRESENTED TO THE EAAB

Tipping Fee (Presented by Mr. James Slater in February)

Stormwater Management Review Fees (Presented by Mr. James Slater in February)

Regional Four‑County Solid Waste Study (Presented by Mr. James Slater in February)

Clean Water Act ‑ Section 404 (Presented by Dr. Arthur Peck in March)

County Golf Course Proposals (Presented by Ms. Catherine Rappe in March)

Water Conservation Update (Presented by Ms. Catherine Rappe in March)

Wetlands Demonstration Project (Presented by Mr. James Slater in March & August)

Recycling Update (Presented by Mr. Dwight Copenhaver in March)

Forest Conservation Act (Presented by Mr. Neil Ridgely in April and June)

Water Resource Management Standards (Presented by Ms. Catherine Rappe in April)

Stormwater Management Ordinance (Presented by Ms. Kristin Barmoy in June)

Forest Conservation Act (Presented by Mr. James Slater and Mr. Neil Ridgely in July)

Waste & Hazardous Material Management (Presented by Mr. James Slater in August)

Solid Waste Management (Presented by Mr. James Slater in August)

Forest Conservation Ordinance (Presented by Mr. Neil Ridgely in August, October, November & December)

Reclassification of County Trout Streams (Presented by Mr. Thomas Devilbiss in September)

Nat\c:\wp51\text\eaab_dir.try\reports\rept.91

There was no Year End Report for 1991. This report was compiled 12/8/98 using meeting minutes.

Saturday, November 17, 1990

18801117 Treaty Regulating Immigration from China

Treaty Regulating Immigration from China

November 17, 1880

(Malloy, ed. Treaties, Conventions, etc. Vol. I, p. 237 ff.)

See also: 18820506 Chinese Exclusion Act

Whereas the Government of the United States, because of the constantly increasing immigration of Chinese laborers to the territory of the United States, and the embarrassments consequent upon such immigration, now desires to negotiate a modification of the existing Treaties which shall not be in direct contravention of their spirit:

ART. I. Whenever in the opinion of the Government of the United States, the coming of Chinese laborers to the United States, or their residence therein, affects or threatens to affect the interests of that country, or to endanger the good order of the said country or of any locality within the territory thereof, the Government of China agrees that the Government of the United States may regulate, limit, or suspend such coming or residence, buy may not absolutely prohibit it. The limitation or suspension shall be reasonable and shall apply only to Chinese who may go to the United States as laborers, other classes not being included in the limitations. Legislation taken in regard to Chinese laborers will be of such a character only as is necessary to enforce the regulation, limitation or suspension of immigration, and immigrants shall not be subject to personal maltreatment or abuse.

ART. II. Chinese subjects, whether proceeding to the United States as teachers, students, merchants, or from curiosity, together with their body and household servants, and Chinese laborers who are now in the United States, shall be allowed to go and come of their own free will and accord, and shall be accorded all the rights, privileges, immunities and exemptions which are accorded to the citizens and subjects of the most favored nation.

ART. III. If Chinese laborers, or Chinese of any other class, now either permanently or temporarily residing in the territory of the United States, meet with ill treatment at the hands of nay other persons, the Government of the United States will exert all its power to devise measures for their protection and to secure to them the same rights, privileges, immunities and exemptions as may be enjoyed by the citizens or subjects of the most favored nation, and to which they are entitled by treaty

####

Friday, November 02, 1990

November 02, 1990 The Obits and the News By Ernest B. Furgurson

November 02, 1990 The Obits and the News By Ernest B. Furgurson


NEW YORK. — New York. - IN JANUARY 1928, they electrocuted Ruth Snyder, the first woman sent to the chair in New York. Most of Manhattan's newspapers ran columns of purple prose about it. Page 1 of the Daily News told the story in one word and one picture.

The word, in huge type, was DEAD! The blurred picture below it was of Snyder at the instant the shock hit her -- taken by photographer Tom Howard with a hidden camera strapped to his ankle.

http://articles.baltimoresun.com/images/pixel.gif
That may have been the News' most famous front page, at least until the one in 1975 when the president refused to bail the city out of its financial crunch. The headline that day was was FORD TO CITY: DROP DEAD.

The word ''dead'' has figured often in the 71-year-history of the News; the paper has specialized in crime reporting, and printed the best. But for the past week, since a long-feared strike began, some of its own employees have become actors instead of narrators in a running crime story.

Starting with the first editions after the strike began, competing papers have covered it as if the News itself were on its death bed, as it may be. There are three tabloids in New York, and the common wisdom is that not more than two can survive. If the strike and management's determination to break the unions does kill the News, one of those rivals might have the bad taste to run its own gleeful headline proclaiming the News DEAD!

That would be the Post, once stodgily liberal, now wackily conservative, catering to readers downscale from the News' hard-core blue-collar fans. The other, more upscale, is New York Newsday, the Manhattan sister of Long Island's Newsday (owned by Times-Mirror, which also owns the Baltimore Sun).


*****

Tuesday, January 02, 1990

19600000s Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King's Six Principles of Nonviolence.


Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King's Six Principles of Nonviolence.

Principle I Courage

"Nonviolence is a way of life for courageous people."

Principle 2 Beloved Community / Winning the opponent over.

"Nonviolence seeks to win friendship and understanding."

Principle 3 Attack evil, but not people.

"Nonviolence seeks to defeat injustice not people."

Principle 4 Suffering with a purpose.

"Nonviolence holds that suffering can educate and transform"

Principle 5 Avoid internal as well as external violence.

"Nonviolence chooses Love instead of Hate."

Principle 6 The Universe on the side of justice.

"Nonviolence believes that the universe is on the side of justice."

Monday, June 12, 1989

19890612 President Ronald Reagan Remarks at the Brandenburg Gate


Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!”

Remarks at the Brandenburg Gate

June 12, 1989

BACK TO SPEECHES

For President Ronald Reagan fans – if you have not been to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Foundation web site – please do so. You will love it…

http://www.reaganfoundation.org/welcome.asp

Welcome to the official web site for the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation. Our goal is to ensure present and future generations will be able to learn first hand about the legacy of the man who came to be known as “the great communicator”. From this site you can access Presidential Papers and Presidential Photographs, learn about the Museum and Air Force One, become a member of the Library, learn about our events, and shop at our online Museum Store.

West Berlin, Germany

June 12, 1987

This speech was delivered to the people of West Berlin, yet it was also audible on the East side of the Berlin wall.
2,703 words

Thank you very much.

Chancellor Kohl, Governing Mayor Diepgen, ladies and gentlemen: Twenty-four years ago, President John F. Kennedy visited Berlin, speaking to the people of this city and the world at the City Hall. Well, since then two other presidents have come, each in his turn, to Berlin. And today I, myself, make my second visit to your city.

We come to Berlin, we American presidents, because it's our duty to speak, in this place, of freedom. But I must confess, we're drawn here by other things as well: by the feeling of history in this city, more than 500 years older than our own nation; by the beauty of the Grunewald and the Tiergarten; most of all, by your courage and determination. Perhaps the composer Paul Lincke understood something about American presidents. You see, like so many presidents before me, I come here today because wherever I go, whatever I do: Ich hab noch einen Koffer in Berlin. [I still have a suitcase in Berlin.]

Our gathering today is being broadcast throughout Western Europe and North America. I understand that it is being seen and heard as well in the East. To those listening throughout Eastern Europe, a special word: Although I cannot be with you, I address my remarks to you just as surely as to those standing here before me. For I join you, as I join your fellow countrymen in the West, in this firm, this unalterable belief: Es gibt nur ein Berlin. [There is only one Berlin.]

Behind me stands a wall that encircles the free sectors of this city, part of a vast system of barriers that divides the entire continent of Europe. From the Baltic, south, those barriers cut across Germany in a gash of barbed wire, concrete, dog runs, and guard towers. Farther south, there may be no visible, no obvious wall. But there remain armed guards and checkpoints all the same--still a restriction on the right to travel, still an instrument to impose upon ordinary men and women the will of a totalitarian state. Yet it is here in Berlin where the wall emerges most clearly; here, cutting across your city, where the news photo and the television screen have imprinted this brutal division of a continent upon the mind of the world. Standing before the Brandenburg Gate, every man is a German, separated from his fellow men. Every man is a Berliner, forced to look upon a scar.

President von Weizsacker has said, "The German question is open as long as the Brandenburg Gate is closed." Today I say: As long as the gate is closed, as long as this scar of a wall is permitted to stand, it is not the German question alone that remains open, but the question of freedom for all mankind. Yet I do not come here to lament. For I find in Berlin a message of hope, even in the shadow of this wall, a message of triumph.

In this season of spring in 1945, the people of Berlin emerged from their air-raid shelters to find devastation. Thousands of miles away, the people of the United States reached out to help. And in 1947 Secretary of State--as you've been told--George Marshall announced the creation of what would become known as the Marshall Plan. Speaking precisely 40 years ago this month, he said: "Our policy is directed not against any country or doctrine, but against hunger, poverty, desperation, and chaos."

In the Reichstag a few moments ago, I saw a display commemorating this 40th anniversary of the Marshall Plan. I was struck by the sign on a burnt-out, gutted structure that was being rebuilt. I understand that Berliners of my own generation can remember seeing signs like it dotted throughout the western sectors of the city. The sign read simply: "The Marshall Plan is helping here to strengthen the free world." A strong, free world in the West, that dream became real. Japan rose from ruin to become an economic giant. Italy, France, Belgium--virtually every nation in Western Europe saw political and economic rebirth; the European Community was founded.

In West Germany and here in Berlin, there took place an economic miracle, the Wirtschaftswunder. Adenauer, Erhard, Reuter, and other leaders understood the practical importance of liberty--that just as truth can flourish only when the journalist is given freedom of speech, so prosperity can come about only when the farmer and businessman enjoy economic freedom. The German leaders reduced tariffs, expanded free trade, lowered taxes. From 1950 to 1960 alone, the standard of living in West Germany and Berlin doubled.

Where four decades ago there was rubble, today in West Berlin there is the greatest industrial output of any city in Germany--busy office blocks, fine homes and apartments, proud avenues, and the spreading lawns of parkland. Where a city's culture seemed to have been destroyed, today there are two great universities, orchestras and an opera, countless theaters, and museums. Where there was want, today there's abundance--food, clothing, automobiles--the wonderful goods of the Ku'damm. From devastation, from utter ruin, you Berliners have, in freedom, rebuilt a city that once again ranks as one of the greatest on earth. The Soviets may have had other plans. But my friends, there were a few things the Soviets didn't count on--Berliner Herz, Berliner Humor, ja, und Berliner Schnauze. [Berliner heart, Berliner humor, yes, and a Berliner Schnauze.]

In the 1950s, Khrushchev predicted: "We will bury you." But in the West today, we see a free world that has achieved a level of prosperity and well-being unprecedented in all human history. In the Communist world, we see failure, technological backwardness, declining standards of health, even want of the most basic kind--too little food. Even today, the Soviet Union still cannot feed itself. After these four decades, then, there stands before the entire world one great and inescapable conclusion: Freedom leads to prosperity. Freedom replaces the ancient hatreds among the nations with comity and peace. Freedom is the victor.

And now the Soviets themselves may, in a limited way, be coming to understand the importance of freedom. We hear much from Moscow about a new policy of reform and openness. Some political prisoners have been released. Certain foreign news broadcasts are no longer being jammed. Some economic enterprises have been permitted to operate with greater freedom from state control.

Are these the beginnings of profound changes in the Soviet state? Or are they token gestures, intended to raise false hopes in the West, or to strengthen the Soviet system without changing it? We welcome change and openness; for we believe that freedom and security go together, that the advance of human liberty can only strengthen the cause of world peace. There is one sign the Soviets can make that would be unmistakable, that would advance dramatically the cause of freedom and peace.

General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization: Come here to this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!

I understand the fear of war and the pain of division that afflict this continent-- and I pledge to you my country's efforts to help overcome these burdens. To be sure, we in the West must resist Soviet expansion. So we must maintain defenses of unassailable strength. Yet we seek peace; so we must strive to reduce arms on both sides.

Beginning 10 years ago, the Soviets challenged the Western alliance with a grave new threat, hundreds of new and more deadly SS-20 nuclear missiles, capable of striking every capital in Europe. The Western alliance responded by committing itself to a counter-deployment unless the Soviets agreed to negotiate a better solution; namely, the elimination of such weapons on both sides. For many months, the Soviets refused to bargain in earnestness. As the alliance, in turn, prepared to go forward with its counter-deployment, there were difficult days--days of protests like those during my 1982 visit to this city--and the Soviets later walked away from the table.

But through it all, the alliance held firm. And I invite those who protested then-- I invite those who protest today--to mark this fact: Because we remained strong, the Soviets came back to the table. And because we remained strong, today we have within reach the possibility, not merely of limiting the growth of arms, but of eliminating, for the first time, an entire class of nuclear weapons from the face of the earth.

As I speak, NATO ministers are meeting in Iceland to review the progress of our proposals for eliminating these weapons. At the talks in Geneva, we have also proposed deep cuts in strategic offensive weapons. And the Western allies have likewise made far-reaching proposals to reduce the danger of conventional war and to place a total ban on chemical weapons.

While we pursue these arms reductions, I pledge to you that we will maintain the capacity to deter Soviet aggression at any level at which it might occur. And in cooperation with many of our allies, the United States is pursuing the Strategic Defense Initiative--research to base deterrence not on the threat of offensive retaliation, but on defenses that truly defend; on systems, in short, that will not target populations, but shield them. By these means we seek to increase the safety of Europe and all the world. But we must remember a crucial fact: East and West do not mistrust each other because we are armed; we are armed because we mistrust each other. And our differences are not about weapons but about liberty. When President Kennedy spoke at the City Hall those 24 years ago, freedom was encircled, Berlin was under siege. And today, despite all the pressures upon this city, Berlin stands secure in its liberty. And freedom itself is transforming the globe.

In the Philippines, in South and Central America, democracy has been given a rebirth. Throughout the Pacific, free markets are working miracle after miracle of economic growth. In the industrialized nations, a technological revolution is taking place--a revolution marked by rapid, dramatic advances in computers and telecommunications.

In Europe, only one nation and those it controls refuse to join the community of freedom. Yet in this age of redoubled economic growth, of information and innovation, the Soviet Union faces a choice: It must make fundamental changes, or it will become obsolete.

Today thus represents a moment of hope. We in the West stand ready to cooperate with the East to promote true openness, to break down barriers that separate people, to create a safe, freer world. And surely there is no better place than Berlin, the meeting place of East and West, to make a start. Free people of Berlin: Today, as in the past, the United States stands for the strict observance and full implementation of all parts of the Four Power Agreement of 1971. Let us use this occasion, the 750th anniversary of this city, to usher in a new era, to seek a still fuller, richer life for the Berlin of the future. Together, let us maintain and develop the ties between the Federal Republic and the Western sectors of Berlin, which is permitted by the 1971 agreement.

And I invite Mr. Gorbachev: Let us work to bring the Eastern and Western parts of the city closer together, so that all the inhabitants of all Berlin can enjoy the benefits that come with life in one of the great cities of the world.

To open Berlin still further to all Europe, East and West, let us expand the vital air access to this city, finding ways of making commercial air service to Berlin more convenient, more comfortable, and more economical. We look to the day when West Berlin can become one of the chief aviation hubs in all central Europe.

With our French and British partners, the United States is prepared to help bring international meetings to Berlin. It would be only fitting for Berlin to serve as the site of United Nations meetings, or world conferences on human rights and arms control or other issues that call for international cooperation.

There is no better way to establish hope for the future than to enlighten young minds, and we would be honored to sponsor summer youth exchanges, cultural events, and other programs for young Berliners from the East. Our French and British friends, I'm certain, will do the same. And it's my hope that an authority can be found in East Berlin to sponsor visits from young people of the Western sectors.

One final proposal, one close to my heart: Sport represents a source of enjoyment and ennoblement, and you may have noted that the Republic of Korea--South Korea--has offered to permit certain events of the 1988 Olympics to take place in the North. International sports competitions of all kinds could take place in both parts of this city. And what better way to demonstrate to the world the openness of this city than to offer in some future year to hold the Olympic games here in Berlin, East and West? In these four decades, as I have said, you Berliners have built a great city. You've done so in spite of threats--the Soviet attempts to impose the East-mark, the blockade. Today the city thrives in spite of the challenges implicit in the very presence of this wall. What keeps you here? Certainly there's a great deal to be said for your fortitude, for your defiant courage. But I believe there's something deeper, something that involves Berlin's whole look and feel and way of life--not mere sentiment. No one could live long in Berlin without being completely disabused of illusions. Something instead, that has seen the difficulties of life in Berlin but chose to accept them, that continues to build this good and proud city in contrast to a surrounding totalitarian presence that refuses to release human energies or aspirations. Something that speaks with a powerful voice of affirmation, that says yes to this city, yes to the future, yes to freedom. In a word, I would submit that what keeps you in Berlin is love--love both profound and abiding.

Perhaps this gets to the root of the matter, to the most fundamental distinction of all between East and West. The totalitarian world produces backwardness because it does such violence to the spirit, thwarting the human impulse to create, to enjoy, to worship. The totalitarian world finds even symbols of love and of worship an affront. Years ago, before the East Germans began rebuilding their churches, they erected a secular structure: the television tower at Alexander Platz. Virtually ever since, the authorities have been working to correct what they view as the tower's one major flaw, treating the glass sphere at the top with paints and chemicals of every kind. Yet even today when the sun strikes that sphere--that sphere that towers over all Berlin--the light makes the sign of the cross. There in Berlin, like the city itself, symbols of love, symbols of worship, cannot be suppressed.

As I looked out a moment ago from the Reichstag, that embodiment of German unity, I noticed words crudely spray-painted upon the wall, perhaps by a young Berliner: "This wall will fall. Beliefs become reality." Yes, across Europe, this wall will fall. For it cannot withstand faith; it cannot withstand truth. The wall cannot withstand freedom.

And I would like, before I close, to say one word. I have read, and I have been questioned since I've been here about certain demonstrations against my coming. And I would like to say just one thing, and to those who demonstrate so. I wonder if they have ever asked themselves that if they should have the kind of government they apparently seek, no one would ever be able to do what they're doing again.

Thank you and God bless you all.

Note: The President spoke at 2:20 p.m. at the Brandenburg Gate. In his opening remarks, he referred to West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl. Prior to his remarks, President Reagan met with West German President Richard von Weizsacker and the Governing Mayor of West Berlin Eberhard Diepgen at Schloss Bellevue, President Weizsacker's official residence in West Berlin. Following the meeting, President Reagan went to the Reichstag, where he viewed the Berlin Wall from the East Balcony.

BACK TO SPEECHES

Reagan – President Ronald Reagan 1981 to 1989

Sunday, March 26, 1989

18190326 Westminster Elections The Westminster Chronicle

Town of Westminster elections for one Burgess and six commissioners

This is the first election for a municipal government in he history of Westminster, however, annual elections for the Trustees for the Westminster general meeting house for quite a few years, which could be considered a governing body of the town…

Friday March 26, 1819

The Westminster Chronicle

"We are indebted to Miss Kate Shriver, near this city, for a copy of The Westminster Chronicle and Weekly Advertiser, vol. I No. 17. The paper bears date "Westminster, Frederick County, (MD.) Friday, March 26, 1819. The paper is about quarter the size of THE ADVOCATE, and was published by William B. Burke at $2 per annum.

Among the list of Agents for the paper we find the names of "John Hyder, Union-Town; J. Denning, Denning's Post-Office; Charles Devilbiss, Union Mills; Peter Mathias, Taney-Town; Mr. Farquier, Union Bridge; G. W. Gist, Middleburg; Wm. Bull, New-Windsor; Henry Beltz, Manchester."

Thomas W. Morgan and Upton Wagers, offered themselves as candidates for Sheriff.

Dr. Elias Umbach and Dr. Willis offered their services to the community.

Among the advertisements of business men appear the names of John Krouse, Jacob Grove, Aquilla Elliott, David Uhler, David Winters; William Frizell advertised a cow as strayed, John Kline gave notice that a bay mare had been stolen from him on the 9th instant.

A communication, signed many voters, gave notice that on the 1st Monday of April the following gentlemen would be voted for:-For Burgess, John Fisher; for Commissioners, Ludwig Wampler, Jacob Sherman, Jacob Frenger, Isaac Shriver, John C. Cockey and Jacob Yin Ling.

William H. McCannon was acting Postmaster; Jesse Slingluff was President of the Bank of Westminster. Philip Littig, Market Street, Baltimore, offered $10 reward for a German man names Johon George Klotter.

Isaac Shriver gave notice that the annual election of Trustees for the Westminster general meeting house would be held on Easter Monday.

####

Monday, September 12, 1988

19880900 To Burn or Not to Burn an interview with Neil Seldman

Recycling is both environmentally sound and economically sensible

An Interview with Neil Seldman, by Robert Gilman

One of the articles in The Next Agenda (IC#19)

Autumn 1988, Page 22

Copyright (c)1988, 1997 by Context Institute | To order this issue ...

Neil Seldman is the President of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance (2425 18th Street NW, Washington, DC 20009) and a consultant to cities and citizen groups around the country who are looking for sensible solutions to the growing garbage crisis.

Robert: People aren't nearly as aware as they could be about the waste crisis, in spite of all the media coverage it's starting to get.

Neil: That's right. We've all heard of the garbage barge from Islip. But I wonder how many people have heard of the ash barge from Philadelphia? The material on the Islip barge was municipal waste, technically commercial waste. On Philadelphia's barge the material is waste incinerator ash, not from a modern mass burn plant, but from an old time incinerator going back 80 or 90 years, a garbage destructor. The amount of garbage on the Islip barge was 3,000 tons, but the ash on the Philadelphia barge weighed 15,000 tons. And how long were they at sea? The Islip barge four months, the Philadelphia barge twenty-three months and it's still on the high seas. Where did the Islip barge go? It went from Islip down the East coast to the Caribbean and back to Brooklyn, where the gargage was finally burned and its remains sent to Islip. Now, the Philadelphia barge has been down through all of those states, into the Caribbean, out to West Africa, back to Philadelphia, and back out to West Africa again.

Robert: It's very curious that the media hasn't picked up on this.

Neil: It shows how you can't trust the media. You must go very deeply into these issues, because these issues are going to determine your future directly in your city. And your small town. These problems have to be solved within three years. Right now most of the authorities in the United States want to turn what was on the Islip barge into what is on the Philadelphia barge. They want to burn the garbage and dispose of the ash. And the story is, look how much more difficult it is to get rid of the ash than the garbage!

Robert: I understand this is all coming to a head because so many municipal areas are basically running out of landfill.

Neil: Absolutely. And that's actually understating the problem, because 8 years ago you could put garbage in the ground on the East coast for $5 a ton, and now it's a $100 a ton for landfill space. One of the ironies is that throughout the 1970's New Jersey tried to keep Pennsylvania's garbage out of New Jersey. They went all the way to the Supreme Court and were eventually told they couldn't do it because of the Interstate Commerce Clause. Right now, guess where New Jersey's garbage is going. Into Pennsylvania. That's how quickly and profoundly the situation has changed.

And it's not because of a lack of landfill space. It's there theoretically, but politically it's become impossible because of the incredible growth of cities, towns and suburbs. Literally no one's neighborhood is unaffected. And people don't want to see their property devalued tremendously, their kids' health risked, their environment destroyed.

Robert: So the alternatives are recycling - or mass burn.

Read the entire interview here: To Burn Or Not To Burn

All contents copyright (c)1988, 1997 by Context Institute

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Last Updated 29 June 2000.

URL: http://www.context.org/ICLIB/IC19/Seldman.htm

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